Feasting On The TCM Fest

By
Leonard Maltin
|
Leonard MaltinApril 18, 2012 at 1:00AM

There were so many films, panels, and guests at the third annual TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood this past weekend that it was impossible to take it all in. Since I hosted ten events over the course of the weekend, I missed out on Kim Novak’s conversation with Robert Osborne and her hand-and-footprint ceremony at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, among other highlights, but I still had plenty of great experiences, beginning on the red carpet opening night.

On Saturday night I spoke to 102-year-old Carla Laemmle, the last surviving cast member of Dracula, who charmed everyone in attendance with her wonderful spirit. Just before our interview, horror-film scholar David Skal gave me a great tip: I asked Carla if it was true that she remembered her parents showing her a newspaper headline about the sinking of the Titanic, one hundred years ago that night. She said yes! Even though she was only two years old, the shock of the tragedy stayed with her all these years. As you may know, Carla has a small role as a dowdy secretary in the opening scene of Dracula, but it is historic because she speaks the first lines of dialogue in the picture.

Beautiful vintage costumes like this gown worn by Lana Turner in 'The Great Garrick' were on display in the lobby of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.

I had two occasions to interview a younger Hollywood veteran, producer Robert Evans, before screenings of Love Story (which saved Paramount Pictures from being shut down) and Black Sunday. Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone, who now owns Paramount, came to the Love Story matinee on Friday to show support and friendship for Evans, who is bursting with great stories. Knowing the film-buff crowd on hand, I asked him to relate how he was discovered by Norma Shearer, who saw him alongside a hotel pool and chose him to play her late husband Irving Thalberg in The Man of a Thousand Faces. He then told us how generous James Cagney was to him when he was too nervous to get out his first line of dialogue.

Harold Lloyd’s granddaughter Suzanne always has interesting things to say about her grandfather’s movies, as she is the keeper of his flame. I always enjoy talking to her before a screening. There was a great turnout for his 1924 silent comedy Girl Shy, which played at the Egyptian Theatre with live accompaniment by the Robert Israel Orchestra.

In fact, festivalgoers turned out in large numbers to see films even when there wasn’t a guest on hand. I was honored to introduce my all-time favorite movie, Casablanca, and must admit I was mildly surprised to see about 700 people at Grauman’s. They came from far and wide for just this reason: to be able to see a great movie on a large (and historic) screen. I tried to provide some context and behind-the-scenes stories about this landmark film, as I did the first morning of the festival, when I introduced the long-unavailable 1947 movie The Macomber Affair, arguably the best screen adaptation of an Ernest Hemingway story. Warner Bros. has just cleared the rights so the film can be screened once again, and I’m happy to report that it will turn up later this year on TCM.

Bruce Goldstein of New York City’s Film Forum hosted a tough, but enjoyable, round of illustrated movie trivia (using film clips) at Club TCM on Friday afternoon, and stumped everyone in the room with the question, “What person who is in attendance this weekend appeared in the pilot episode of the TV series The Beverly Hillbillies?” The answer: TCM’s own Robert Osborne!

At the closing night party I met dozens of nice people who had traveled from all points on the compass to be part of this festival. Contrary to stereotype, there were a number of young people, along with folks in my age bracket who, in some cases, got to attend as a birthday or anniversary present. TCM has captured lightning in a bottle with this elaborate and ambitious event. They featured actors, writers, directors, costume and fashion designers, historians, publicists, and art directors over the course of the busy weekend, and everyone seemed to have a great time.

There was also a feeling of serendipity in the air. One of the high spots for me was getting to see the apparently ageless Peggy Cummins, who flew in from London, before a screening of her amazing film noir Gun Crazy. (As she admitted to interviewer Eddie Muller, she made other movies she liked, such as The Late George Apley with Ronald Colman and Moss Rose with Victor Mature, but even in 1950 she appreciated the opportunity to break away from playing “pretty young things” by becoming the femme fatale in Joseph H. Lewis’ exceptional crime story.)The night before that showing, my family and I had dinner with friends at a restaurant in the Hollywood & Highland complex, which houses the Mann 6 theaters where many screenings were held. At one point I realized that Miss Cummins and her friend Eunice Gayson (an original Bond Girl from Dr. No) were seated two tables away and went over to pay my respects. We had a lovely conversation, and at one point she asked the name of the actor with whom I was dining, whom she had met briefly on her way to the restaurant. I told her his name was James Karen, a lifelong actor whose uncle was Morris Carnovsky. After a beat, she said, “Wasn’t he in Gun Crazy?” Indeed he was. How perfect that such a connection should come about at the TCM Classic Film Festival.